Congratulations to William Wilson and Jessica Woods on their selection to the Swim England North East Region – Open Water Squad.
The Regional Squad forms part of the Swim England national swimming talent pathway and will provide an opportunity for swimmers to develop their technical, tactical, physical and lifestyle open water skills with swimmers of a similar age and ability from across the North East. The camp will also provide an opportunity for swimmers to work with different coaches and to train in a different environment. We hope that the camps will be a positive and rewarding experience, with the intention of them being a stepping-stone for you to progress to further stages of the pathway in the future.
Marathon swimming has been included as an event at the Olympic Games since Beijing 2008, where British athletes won 3 of the 6 medals awarded. Kerri-Anne Payne (double world 10Km champion and European SC 400m freestyle champion) and Cassie Patten (world 10Km silver medalist and 4th at World SC for 800m freestyle) won silver and bronze respectively in the Womens 10Km, and David Davies won silver in the Mens 10Km (won bronze in Athens 2004 in the 1500m). The best athletes in the marathon events are all great pool swimmers first, which is why we would like to introduce you to the exciting world of open water swimming through our Regional Squad.
This year's camps will engage with athletes in the 12 -16 year old age groups where age is defined as at 31st December 2022. Selections were taken directly from the National rankings for the 12 month period up to and including 31st March 2022. The top 3 male and female performances were identified from each single age group in the 1500m and 800m Freestyle respectively.
